(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post)
The Animals - "The House of the Rising Sun"
Hit Number 1: September 5, 1964
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
Depending on who you ask, "The House of the Rising Sun" is possibly older than the Revolutionary War. Some say that it has a resemblance to a 16th-century ballad "The Unfortunate Rake", while another musicologist by the name of Alan Lomax claims it stems from a 17th-century folk song "Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave". A survey was conducted later regarding the latter, with many finding that there was no resemblance between the song and "Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave". The oldest known published version of the lyrics came in 1925 when a column called "Old Songs That Men Have Sung" was printed by Robert Winslow Gordon in Adventure Magazine. Versions of the song started being recorded as early as the 1930s, and the song continued to be performed over the years, with new versions of the song still being recorded and released today. But the question of "How old is 'The House of the Rising Sun'?" will probably never be answered.
But if you ask me, I really couldn't care less about how old the song is. Because the only version that matters at all is the Animals' version released in 1964. The Animals lead singer Eric Burdon said that he first heard the song while at a club in Newcastle, where it was being sung by folk singer Johnny Handle. The Animals were on tour with guitar playing legend Chuck Berry and they chose it because they wanted something distinctive to sing. (This brief interruption is to say that Chuck Berry's biggest hit "Johnny B. Goode" is a clear-cut 10) In most of the previous versions of "The House of the Rising Sun", the song is from the viewpoint of a woman led to a life of degradation, but the Animals changed it around to a man whose father was addicted to gambling and alcohol, rather than the sweet loving dad in the earlier versions. The group began to use the song as their "closer" which was different from the usual "tear the house down rockers" that groups would usually perform to close out shows. The eventual producer Mickie Most was reluctant to do anything with the song, but after seeing the positive reaction it was getting from audiences in the Animals' shows, he reconsidered. The Animals then recorded it in London.
Amazingly, it was recorded in one take. Eric Burdon would later say that "We were looking for a song that would grab people's attention". It's still grabbing people's attention today in 2020. As soon as that riff starts, you just KNOW. But the song wouldn't be complete without Burdon's howling and wailing vocals, and keyboardist Alan Price's haunting organ playing. "The House of the Rising Sun" is like one big storm. What starts out as little gusts of wind, turns into a raging thunderstorm, then finally into a hurricane and tornado at the same time. Burdon's wailing is intense as all hell, and along with the organ playing, it's like a cyclone swirling around the listener before the song swallows them whole. The listener is about as helpless as the narrator of the song, as he describes his life that has completely fallen apart, begging the listener to not do what he's done. If you look at the words of the song, it isn't clear what exactly the narrator did, but one can assume he ended up like his gambling addict father. However, that part comes after the organ solo, and by then, the song has completely possessed your body. All time just stops when this song is playing.
A lot of people claim that with the longevity of the song, and its ancient roots, they like to call it the first folk rock hit. While that technically could be true, to me, folk rock is more like what we heard on "Walk Right In". "The House of the Rising Sun" is not even close to "Walk Right In". You can't even put a genre on this song, as any kind of rock would be a complete understatement. "The House of the Rising Sun" is in a world of its own, completely taking over people's lives. And God, I know I'm one.
GRADE: 10/10
JUST MISSED:
The annoying as all hell "Bread and Butter" by the Newbeats peaked at #2 behind "The House of the Rising Sun". It's a 2.
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